The Crooked Branch

Product Information

From the national bestselling author of American Dirt and A Rip in Heaven comes the deeply moving story of two mothers from two very different times. The usually resilient and self-deprecating young woman suddenly feels isolated and exhausted - feelings which she slowly comes to realize reach far beyond simply being overwhelmed by her recent introduction to new motherhood. Majella is our main character, who is a new mom to daughter Emma, and struggling with her new role that she just can’t seem to connect with. In 1993 Cummins was a finalist in the Rose of Tralee festival, an international event that is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world; at each festival in Tralee, Ireland, a woman is crowned the Rose.

Book Review: The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins Book Review: The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins

Leo loves Majella, and he tries to be empathetic, but there are moments when he just doesn’t understand what his wife is going through. I loved the back and forth between the famine and the current day, the diary linking the two, and the linkage between motherhood! This would be a good book discussion book for a group of mothers, and includes a readers guide in the back.I would have given this 5 stars but for me, the ending and tying up of loose ends was just a bit too neat so I gave it 4. From 2018 until its publication in January 2020, the book was heavily marketed, receiving many positive reviews and a coveted book release day endorsement by Oprah Winfrey as the 83rd book chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Two story lines seems to be the trend now in fiction and in this case I have to say it worked very well.

Empathy, Suspense and Love: Elizabeth Gaskell - SSRN Plot and Empathy, Suspense and Love: Elizabeth Gaskell - SSRN

Majella is an overwhelmed new mother dealing with the loss of her identity, upset hormones, and lack of sleep. After university, Cummins spent two years working as a bartender in Belfast, Northern Ireland, before moving back to the United States in 1997 and beginning work at Penguin in New York City. Möglicherweise führte zu viele Bildung über seinen Stand hinaus zu dieser charakterlichen Missbildung. When they first meet at Springhill House, are Seán’s flirtations harmless, or does he really have romantic motives toward Ginny? With a population of about 8 million at the time, Ireland lost one million people who died in the famine, and another million who emigrated.

The Crooked Branch is a story with motherhood at its core, how parenting comes with its ups and downs, no matter the time or place. The 1861 book's five stories are Lois the Witch (124 pages), The Grey Woman (78 pages), The Doom of the Griffiths (52 pages), The Half-Brothers (20 pages), and The Crooked Branch (63 pages). There are many, many great reviews about The Crooked Branch and I strongly encourage readers to read those reviews. It brought me back to when I was a new mom, and at times, it felt like I was reading about my own life. Some also claimed that Cummins had previously identified as white but re-branded herself as Latina with the publication of the book, pointing to a line in a 2015 New York Times op-ed in which Cummins stated "I am white.